Reader Mail: Getting Started by Going to School
Can you give me some guidance on what a STUDENT going to performing arts schools needs in a headshot? What are the best performing arts colleges that will genuinely GET a student somewhere when they finish? What should a student expect in a school? Are professional affiliations truly necessary? Can you write an article on this - like for the "beginning" theatre/musical theatre student? What is important in a college for a theatre student and what isn't? …It sure would be nice to get the "straight story" from someone who has been there and done that... Mary T.
I’ll be perfectly honest with you, Mary. I studied writing and literature at UCLA, not theatre, though I took a class in acting while I was there. My bug came a few years later, and at that point I studied with several coaches here in town to develop my technique.
However, speaking from my standpoint here in Los Angeles, there are things your daughter can do for the four years she’s in school to prepare for an acting career. If she is looking for a career specifically in theatre, a good performing arts curriculum will train her very well for that, but I'll say right off the bat that New York is THE town for theatre, and she should probably go to school there or very close to there, if she wants a major career in theatre, particularly because she can begin acting “professionally” off-off-Broadway right away. If she perseveres, and opportunity intersects with preparation, she could be working on Broadway by the time she graduates. She’ll have plenty of competition, but she’ll also be in the right arena. There are a number of other factors to consider. Looking at this article as I edit it, it's already well over my word limit (see who stops me), and I feel like I'm only scratching the surface, but we'll address your specific questions, and hopefully I can set you off in the right direction.
I’ll start with the headshots you asked about. Any headshot anyone ever does should always look exactly the way you look when you walk in the room on any given day. This means no special make-up or hairdo. Just get a good, simple, clear, well-lit headshot that you can hold up to your daughter’s face on any given day and the two look identical. That is professional, and it saves a lot of headaches for everyone. I checked the link you provided me separately, and those pictures seem fine. The lighting might be a little too flattering, but just make sure she doesn’t go overboard on preparing her look for the photos, and that the picture you ultimately choose looks like her, and you’ll be okay. I assume this holds true for any school, because the point of a picture is the represent your daughter as accurately as possible to someone who will have to identify her the moment she walks in the room.
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